President Hafez Assad, the lone gun of Middle East politics, has joined the posse, sending Syrian troops to Saudi Arabia for the showdown with Iraq. In the shifting alliances of the Arab world, the 60-year-old Assad, two decades in power here, had remained obdurate and aloof. Diplomats called him "Mr. No." He was the man who sat and waited for things to turn his way. Now, faced with hard and complex new realities, he has taken a stand, one that is rife with risk.

Eight Arab countries gave a general endorsement to President Bush's Middle East peace initiative on Sunday, and Secretary of State James A. Baker III said their move should prompt Israel to show more flexibility. "Sounds to us like it's a signal," Baker said of the Arab statement. He said he now plans "to talk specifically and in detail with (Israel's) leadership about what steps they might be willing to consider."

Syrian President Hafez Assad on Monday finally got what he has wanted for more than a decade from the United States--public recognition that no deal in the Middle East can be complete without Syria's concurrence. That recognition was implicit in Secretary of State James A. Baker III's announcement that he would visit Syria this week to coordinate the campaign to isolate Saddam Hussein of Iraq. Baker said President Bush felt it was time for "a face-to-face dialogue" with Assad.

The Arab nations that backed the United States and its Western allies in the war against Iraq agreed Wednesday to consolidate their position in the Persian Gulf with a security system built around Egyptian and Syrian forces. Foreign ministers of the eight states disclosed no details of the ultimate size of the Arab force, nor of the financing. But diplomats said the bills will be picked up by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other oil sheikdoms of the Gulf coast.

Eight Arab countries gave a general endorsement to President Bush's Middle East peace initiative on Sunday, and Secretary of State James A. Baker III said their move should prompt Israel to show more flexibility. "Sounds to us like it's a signal," Baker said of the Arab statement. He said he now plans "to talk specifically and in detail with (Israel's) leadership about what steps they might be willing to consider."

The Arab nations that backed the United States and its Western allies in the war against Iraq agreed Wednesday to consolidate their position in the Persian Gulf with a security system built around Egyptian and Syrian forces. Foreign ministers of the eight states disclosed no details of the ultimate size of the Arab force, nor of the financing. But diplomats said the bills will be picked up by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other oil sheikdoms of the Gulf coast.

President Hafez Assad, the lone gun of Middle East politics, has joined the posse, sending Syrian troops to Saudi Arabia for the showdown with Iraq. In the shifting alliances of the Arab world, the 60-year-old Assad, two decades in power here, had remained obdurate and aloof. Diplomats called him "Mr. No." He was the man who sat and waited for things to turn his way. Now, faced with hard and complex new realities, he has taken a stand, one that is rife with risk.

Syrian President Hafez Assad on Monday finally got what he has wanted for more than a decade from the United States--public recognition that no deal in the Middle East can be complete without Syria's concurrence. That recognition was implicit in Secretary of State James A. Baker III's announcement that he would visit Syria this week to coordinate the campaign to isolate Saddam Hussein of Iraq. Baker said President Bush felt it was time for "a face-to-face dialogue" with Assad.